THE DISCOVERY AND INTEGRATION OF EVIL IN THE FICTION OF JOSEPH CONRAD ANDHERMANN HESSE Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Bruecher, Werner, 1927- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 11/10/2021 14:25:27 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/287819 72-9806 BRUECHER, Werner, 1927- THE DISCOVERY AND INTEGRATION OF EVIL IN THE FICTION OF JOSEPH CONRAD AND HERMANN HESSE. The University of Arizona, Ph.D. , 1972 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan •vr trac°* MTn-poPTT.MPn •RYAnTT.Y AS RECEIVED THE DISCOVERY AND INTEGRATION OF EVIL IN THE FICTION OF JOSEPH CONRAD AND HERMANN HESSE by Werner Brueeher A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1972 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Werner Bruecher entitled The Discovery and Integration of Evil in the Fiction of Joseph Conrad and Hermann Hesse be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the final copy of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its^approval and recommend its acceptance:* L J/?/?/ 7 nh\ f/?/-?/ "This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. PLEASE NOTE: Some Pages have indistinct print. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allow­ able without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manu­ script in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other'instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: PREFACE I have been interested in the writings of Joseph Conrad for many years, not only because I find them as intriguing and artistically satisfying as do many of his readers, but also because they reflect the struggle for a new integration by a fellow-expatriate which has much personal significance to me. My interest in Hermann Hesse is of more recent origin and stems partly from an attempt to familiarize myself with the thought of major writers whose works were suppressed during my formative years in Germany. When I first read Demian and Steppenwolf, Hesse's most popular novels in the United States today, I was impressed by the unexpected similarity of thematic develop­ ment and artistic method between these novels and some comparable works by Conrad, particularly Lord Jim and "Heart of Darkness." This correspondence between writings of authors so outwardly different seemed particularly sur­ prising to me because it reflected an essential identity of discoveries these men had made about human nature and uni­ versalized in their fiction. I was also impressed by the fact that Conrad seemed far ahead of his time in that he gave artistic expression to very nearly the same iii psychological insights which Hesse, who wrote under the direct influence of Jungian theories, expressed several decades later. My initial comparison of works by Conrad and Hesse later developed into the desire to examine and compare other representative writings of both authors more systematically and in greater depth. This desire, in turn, finds its final expression in this dissertation. My interest in this comparative study of works by Conrad and Hesse is primarily psychological, even though socio-economic and philosophical considerations become increasingly important during the latter half of this dissertation. This is mostly due to the fact that the main emphasis here is on character development, i. e., on trac­ ing the increasing self-awareness and ability to deal with reality by fictional personae of both authors approximately in the order in which they normally occur in life. Thereby it also becomes apparent how closely the agony of soul- searching v/hich both men expressed in their writings reflects the intellectual history of Europe and, to some extent, of the entire Western World. All this does not mean that the artistic problems each writer faces in his effort to express particularly subjective experiences have been ignored. Such matters as the increasing stylistic intricacy in the fiction of Conrad and Hesse to match the complexity of the inner explorations, their similar use of V the ironic method, and finally their return to a simpler, more classical view of life and mode of expressic l have been noted "but subordinated to the main theme. In quoting from Conrad I have used the Canterbury Edition of his complete works (Neiv York, 1924); the basis for all extracts from the writings of Hesse is his Gesammelte Schrlften (Prankfurt/M., 1957), which are referred to by volume number since no individual titles are given. Due to the bilingual nature of this dissertation and the frequent use of German terminology, extended quotations in German have not been underlined. All translations are my own and are intended to convey Hesse's actual, not simply literal, meaning. Prom the large number of critical interpretations and commentaries now available on the works of Conrad and Hesse, I selected only those which seemed relevant and available at various university libraries in the United States, primarily those of The University of Arizona, The University of Oregon, and Portland State University. A number of these secondary references have been cited; many others have influenced the content of this dissertation in a general way, as did several visits to Europe and espe­ cially the most recent one to various locations which are of consequence to Hesse's work, such as the cloister and theological training school at Haulbronn, in Western vi Germany, and-the southern Swiss village of Montagnola, where he spent his most productive years. Finally, I wish to thank my committee, Dr. Richard I. Smyer and Dr. Carl F. Keppler of the English Department, and Dr. Jean R. Beck and Dr. David J. Woloshin of the German Department of The University of Arizona for their help. But I am especially grateful to Dr. L. D. Clark, ny dissertation advisor, and to my wife Ruth, my patient typist, without whose help and encouragement this disserta­ tion would not have been possible. TABLE OP CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT viii I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. FIRST ENCOUNTERS WITH EVIL IN THE OUTER V/ORLD. 9 III. THE EXPLORATION OF EVIL WITHIN 57 IV. THE QUEST FOR WHOLENESS BEYOND EVIL 124 V. CONCLUSION 174 WORKS CITED 182 vii ABSTRACT This comparative study 'traces the process of increasing self-awareness and understanding of the world by Joseph Conrad and Hermann Hesse, as it finds artistic expression in a number of representative writings which are so arranged that they can be read as consecutive install­ ments in their quest for reality and truth in a world in which accepted systems of social, religious and philosophi­ cal order have broken down. The increasing maturity of Conradian and Hessean characters is portrayed in four phases and is judged by their expanding awareness of evil and by their changing reaction to it. The young or naive conceive of evil as clearly definable malevolence confronting them as aspects of the outer world. Some of them, generally minor charac­ ters or protagonists in the early fiction of both authors, try to ignore evil altogether or use it to foster their romantic misconceptions of themselves. Others cope with it according to time-honored codes and in the line of duty. Still other innocents are destroyed in their confrontations with external depravity, which attacks them too suddenly or which they are too weak to resist. viii ix Generally, however, life forces upon Conradian and Hessean characters discordant experience which aims at leading them to an increasing understanding of the truth about human nature and the world. Those who refuse to be educated or who lack restraint deteriorate and bring mis­ fortune upon others, but those who accept the challenge of life experience psychological growth. In this latter cate­ gory belong the most representative characters of both authors. They first come to suspect that not all human calamity can be explained by blaming their environment and that evil is inherent in their own psyches as well as in the outer world; from then on their road to truth leads clearly inward. Conrad's Lord Jim and Hesse's Emil Sinclair in Demian lose their innocence largely through the painful realization of their own ethical duality and set out to compensate for their loss by finding a new self-concept in agreement with pre-conceived ideals. Both achieve only a conditional success. Jim fails when he is defeated by Brown, a figure from the deep psyche which he does not understand.